Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Abstract

Vocabulary learning is arguably one of the most salient, important, difficult and long-lasting tasks in language learning. Deliberate efforts in learning vocabulary strategically may make the learning process more efficient, effective, and even more pleasant.

Vocabulary learning is arguably one of the most salient, important, difficult and long-lasting tasks in language learning. Deliberate efforts in learning vocabulary strategically may make the learning process more efficient, effective, and even more pleasant.

Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) are learners’ conscious efforts in managing their own learning of vocabulary in order to make it more effective and more efficient, in increasing their vocabulary size and depth, and in being able to use the vocabulary learned automatically and appropriately. Strategic vocabulary learning is an intentional, dynamic and iterative process. It is normally triggered by a difficult or novel vocabulary learning task. We start by noticing a vocabulary item or chunk and then focus our attention on it. Next, we quickly analyse the learning task, ourselves as learners and the learning environment before we form an attack plan. The plan is then executed, and we monitor its effectiveness along the way and evaluate its degree of success in achieving the learning goal. Often this evaluation will necessitate a re-analysis of the task and redeployment of strategies, making strategic vocabulary learning a spiraling and complex problem-solving process.

Whenever a new, important or difficult task is identified, strategic learners go through the choice, use, and evaluation of strategic learning cycles. This means that the nature of the learning task is important in determining what strategies are the most appropriate and most effective. At the same time, who the learner is and what strategy repertoire is available determine what strategies are triggered. Whether a strategy is needed and how effective it is are influenced by contextual affordances and constraints as well.

Research on vocabulary learning strategies in second language acquisition started in the late 1980s. Three decades of research on vocabulary learning strategies have produced very fruitful findings that are now guiding the practices inside the language classroom. Many exploratory studies have resulted in the discovery of naturally occurring strategies second language learners normally use for learning vocabulary. These have resulted in the compilation of a number of strategy indices. Questionnaire studies making use of these indices have been able to establish how vocabulary learning strategies are related to vocabulary size and general language proficiency. It has also been found that the choice, use, and effectiveness of VLS are mediated by task, learner, and contextual factors, and that the configurations of factors and relationships are complex, dynamic, and situated.

The following list of ten research questions help to strengthen existing research findings and shift our efforts from surface-level explorations to more in-depth examinations and explanations. The last research question also highlights the need for the application of our research findings.

Appendices

The Research Questions

• 1. What naturally occurring strategies can be found in the learning of vocabulary at various levels of proficiency in different learning contexts?

• 2. How are learners’ choice and use of vocabulary learning strategies related to the learning of single words and multiword units?

• 3. To what extent can strategy instruction enhance the learning of vocabulary in short-, medium- and long-terms?

• 4. To what extent do individual differences such as motivation, personality, and learning styles influence the choice and use of vocabulary learning strategies?

• 5. To what extent does task knowledge (what vocabulary learning involves, e.g., receptive vs. productive; breadth, depth, automaticity, and appropriateness) influence the choice and use of vocabulary learning strategies?

• 6. What contextual affordances and constraints influence the choice, use, and effectiveness of vocabulary learning strategies?

• 7. How is the complex, dynamic and situated nature of strategy choice, execution, and growth related to the outcomes of vocabulary learning?

• 8. How is the simultaneous use of strategy clusters or strings in sync related to the outcomes of vocabulary learning?

• 9. To what extent do vocabulary learning strategies differ in their usefulness among ESL/EFL learners, English Language Learners, in CLIL or English as a medium of instruction programmes, or in children’s learning of their first language?

• 10. To what extent can research findings on vocabulary learning strategies make a difference to learning and teaching in the language classroom?

Suggested Resources

Gu, Y. (2003). Vocabulary learning in a second language: Person, task, context and strategies. TESL-EJ, 7(2), 1–25.

This is a comprehensive review of research on vocabulary learning strategies. The review is based on a tetrahedral model of language learning strategies that sees vocabulary learning strategies being influenced by learners, tasks and learning contexts. Instead of searching for the best strategies that produce the best results, the author argued that the choice, use, and effectiveness of vocabulary learning strategies depend on the task, the learner, and the learning context. At the end of the review, a list of ten summary points and future research directions are presented. Looking back at the last decade and more since the publication of this article, the overwhelming majority of the research directions listed have barely been touched upon.

Gu, Y. (2020). Strategies for learning vocabulary. In S. Webb (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of vocabulary studies (pp. 271–287). London: Routledge.

This is a latest review of research on vocabulary learning strategies. If the focus of the 2003 review was placed on charting the domain and outlining overall directions, this review zoomed in onto a number of specific areas where empirical research is urgently needed. For example, an analysis of the task of vocabulary learning revealed the apparent lack of research on strategies for the learning of productive vocabulary, of the depth, automaticity and appropriateness of vocabulary, and the learning of multiword units. Seeing vocabulary as contextualised and dynamic competence that is situated in authentic language use also requires strategic learning that demands new research perspectives and methodologies. In addition, a learner perspective would entail research efforts that fully appreciate the skill, will, and co-construction of strategies and self- and co-regulation of vocabulary learning. Finally, it was argued that contextually responsive and practically useful research on vocabulary learning strategies should include studies such as L1 acquisition, ELL achievement, CLIL, and study abroad contexts.

Mizumoto, A., & Takeuchi, O. (2009). Examining the effectiveness of explicit instruction of vocabulary learning strategies with Japanese EFL university students. Language Teaching Research, 13(4), 425–449.

This is an empirical study examining of effects of a 10-week strategy instruction programme over a four-month period among a group of 204 EFL learners. Metacognitive and cognitive strategies for vocabulary learning were introduced to the experimental group on a weekly basis using the first 30 min of a 90-min class. A questionnaire on vocabulary learning strategies and a questionnaire on motivation were administered before and after the experiment. The results indicated in general the usefulness in strategy instruction on both vocabulary learning and on increased strategy use, especially among learners who used strategies at a low or moderate level at the beginning of the study.

Ranalli, J. (2013). Online strategy instruction for integrating dictionary skills and language awareness. Language Learning & Technology, 17(2), 75–99. http://dx.doi.org/10125/44325.

Technology-assisted vocabulary learning is a rapidly developing line of practice that deserves more research attention. This article presents an attempt to teach dictionary skills in a five-week, online strategy instruction course designed to teach web-based dictionary use. Sixty-four learners in a university ESL composition course at Iowa State University participated in the study. Eleven tutorials on vocabulary depth of knowledge, dictionaries, and pattern grammar were presented to the strategy instruction group (N = 32) in an automated, online course that lasted five weeks. The dictionary practice (control) group (N = 32) then swapped roles with the strategy instruction group and received the same online training within the following five weeks. Results showed that the strategy instruction group significantly outperformed the dictionary practice group in selecting the correct dictionary for the vocabulary task, and in exploiting the chosen dictionary in both identifying and correcting errors involving lexical patterns. The study shows promise for the integration of technology in developing learners’ expertise in using vocabulary learning strategies.

Cohen, A. D., & Wang, I. K.-H. (2018). Fluctuation in the functions of language learner strategies. System, 74, 169–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.03.011.

This is a unique study that focused on explicating the micro functions of strategy use in the completion of a vocabulary fine-tuning task by six Chinese learners of English. It has long been thought that strategies serve different purposes and that learners normally employ clusters, pairs and sequences of strategies to tackle a given task. This study, however, demonstrated that even a single strategy served multiple micro functions and that these micro functions fluctuated on a moment-to-moment basis. The authors were able to identify six patterns of strategy functions: (1) a one-way linear progression from one function to the next, (2) simultaneous occurrence of two or more functions, (3) a linear progression plus simultaneous occurrence, (4) bi-directional fluctuation, (5) bi-directional fluctuation plus simultaneous occurrence of functions, and (6) Simultaneous occurrence of functions plus micro-fluctuation of functions. The methodological innovation employed in this study showcases one way in which the complex, dynamic and situated nature of vocabulary learning strategies can be studied.